Storage loading machine



July 28, 1942. w. M. DUNCAN STORAGE LOADING MACHINE Filed No'v. 8, 1940 2 sheets-sheet 1 July-28, 1942.

`w. M. DUNCAN STORAGE LOADING MACHI Filed NOV. 8, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July'zs, 1942 E' e 2,290,950

- UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE STORAGE LOADING MACHINE William M. Duncan, Alton, lll.

Application November 8, 1940, Serial No. 364,781

7 Qlaims. (Cl. 21483) This invention pertains to loading machines particularly for placing and moving the hauling and is particularly adapted for application to car with respect thereto.

such loading machines as are used in coal mines Further objects will appear from the followto load the coal into mine cars to be hauled ing description, taken in connection with the away. accompanying drawings, in which:

The procedure in modern coal mining involves Figure 1 is a plan view of a storage car illusthe use of a loading machine which is equipped trating one embodiment of this invention with gathering means adapted to gather and pick Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1; up the loose coal which has .been shot down Figure 3 lis an enlarged section on line 3-3 and by means of suitable conveyors to deliver of Figure 2; the material gathered .to the hauling cars. VFigure 4 is a sectional detail of the adjust- When a car is filled it is drawn away from able deck;

the loading machine by means of a locomotive, Figure 5 is an enlarged detail showing theand a new car is moved into place adjacent the means for adjusting the deck;

loading machine. Modern loading machines have V Figure 6 is a plan view illustrating another a capacity suicient to load the ordinary mine embodiment of the invention, including the storcar in about one minute. It takes one and age car and the intermediate conveyor car;

a half minutes to move out a loaded car and Figure 7-isla side elevation of the equipment move a new one into place, during which opshown in Figure 6, but illustrated as standing eration the loading machine must remain idle. .zoon a straight track instead of on a curve, as in Thus, the loading machine is limited by the Figure 6; and

limitations of the car-handling equipment to pp- Figure 8 is a detail section taken on a line 8-8 eration during less than half of the available of Figure 7. time. Referring now to the drawings, the machine One of the 'objects of this invention, there- 25 for gathering the coal which has been shot down fore, is to provide apparatus and a procedure may be of any suitable type. Such a machine whereby the gathering machine may be kept is regularly equipped with a delivery conveyor in operation for a greater percentage of the which extends rearwardly therefrom so that in available time by providing facilities for storing ordinary use it may overhang the hauling car in the output of that machine during the period order to deliver the material thereto. The dewhen the hauling cars are being changed. livery conveyor of such a machine is indicated at Another object of this invention is to provide i in Figure 2. A storage car is provided, having such equipment of large capacity, While at the a chassis 2 and a body`3 providing a storage bin. same time so organized that it may be handled This bin is preferably made as large as praction the tracks provided in ordinary mines and cable so as to permit the handling of the storage may be able to operate on the short curves ordicar on the tracks 4 of the mine, the chassis being narily found in such track installations. equipped with suitable wheels 5 for that purpose.

Another object is to provide storage means in A conveyor 6 is provided in the bottom of the bin the form of` cars having a receiving bin adapted and is operable by suitable driving mechanism 'l to receive the output of the gathering machine 4o so as to move materiai out of the bin 3 and into and means for distributing the material received the mine haulage car 8. When used in the aralong the entire bin, together with means for rangement shown in Figures 1 and 2, the storage 10adr1g material from Said bin into the hauIing car may be provided with a rearward extension cars. 9 adapted to overhang the car 8 so that material Another object is to provide a novel structure may be delivered to any part of the latter. for such distributing means. In accordance with this invention the body 3 of Another object is to provide special loading the storage .car is .provided with a top I0 suitably means, to be used in combination with such a braced to the body. The top I0 is provided with storage car, which may be used on curves so as an opening extending along the central portion to receive material from the. storage car and of the :body and closed by an adjustable deck Il. deliver it to a hauling car, 'which could not Suitable angular members I2, secured to the top otherwise be properly placed to receive material lll, support the deck Il for sliding movement from the storage car. therealong, as will be described more in detail Another object is to provide novel means hereinafter. for handling the aforementioned equipment, and 5 Mounted on the top l0 are suitable guides I3 for a pair of conveyor chains I4, equipped with suitable flights or arms I5 adapted to move the material along the deck II. Driving means I6 may .be provided, connected in any suitable manner to drive the chains I4, so as to move the flights I5 rearwardly over the bin 3, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 1. Thus, material delivered -by the conveyor I upon the deck II will be moved by the conveyor I5 rearwardly of the storage car and deposited in the bin 8 at the rear end of the deck II. Suitable sloping side members II provide guards for the chains I4, and also provide a trough adapted to receive the ma.- terial and guide it downwardly upon the conveyor I5.

The deck II may be constructed of a series ocf jointed sections I8, equipped at their ends with rollers I9, adapted to roll upon the angles I2. These sections may be connected by links 20 to form a exible chain structure. The deck II, therefore, provides the bottom of a channel extending along the top of the body 3, and the conveyor I5 operates in said channel.

The deck I I is arranged for adjustment so that its delivery end (left-hand end in Figure l) may be placed at any suitable point along the lbin 3 so as to deliver the material at the point. For this purpose the right-hand section may be secured to a suitable winding drum 2I (Figure 5), as by means of a fastening link 22. The drum 2l may be mounted upon an axle 23 arranged to be turned by a crank 24. A ratchet 25 may be arranged to engage a pawl 26 so as to hold the drum 2I in adjusted position. It will be runderstood that while the conveyor I5 is operating, the flights thereof, in continuously moving over the deck II while there is material on that deck, exert a rearward drag, tending to pull the deck to the left (Figure 1). The pawl 26 will therefore prevent such movement. The delivery edge of the deck may be moved forwardly or to the right of Figure l by operating the crank 24 to turn the drum 2I in a. clockwise direction, as seen in Figure 5, thereby winding up the chain structure of the deck upon the drum 2I. Other means for thus accumulating the deck sections as the latter are moved forwardly may be provided, such, for instance, as a. well below the drum 2| in which the sections I8 may fold one upon the other as they are deposited in the well by a rotation of the drum 2 I. In order to adjust the deck in the reverse direction, or to the left of Figure 1, the lpawl 28 may be released by pressing downwardly on the handle 21 thereof so as to release the drum 2|. When this has been done, the drag of the material upon the deck under the moving force of the flights I5 will cause the deck to move to the left. This movement may be stopped at any adjusted position by engaging the pawl 26 with the ratchet 25.

A storage car, constructed as shown in Figure 2, must be of somewhat limited capacity because the extension 9 projects considerably to the rear of the wheels 5 so that on short turns this extension may swing out to one side of the track so that it would not deliver material to the car 8. The str-ucture illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 makes it possible to provide a storage car of maximum capacity and still be able to handle the apparatus on short curves. In this arrangement an intermediate conveyor car, indicated generally at 28, is provided. This may have any suitable structure and be mounted on wheels 28 for operation on the tracks 4. A conveyor 38 is receive material from the conveyor 6. This material is received upon the conveyor 30, which in tin'n delivers it to the hauling car 8. It will be seen from Figure 6 that the car 28 provides an intermediate conveying device adapted yto move the material angularly with respect to the conveyor 6 in order to pass it around the curve of the tracks 4. Accordingly, this combination of apparatus may operate in close quarters and in such situations, as, for instance, in a shallow entry where the loading machine I takes up most of the room and the car 8 must be placed upon a curve of the track 4.

The conveyor car 28 may be provided with means for adjusting the hauling car 8 so as to distribute the load in the latter. For this purpose a thrust bar 3I may be mounted in any suitable manner :for sliding movement fore and aft on the chassis of the car 28. Power driving connections are provided for moving this bar forward and back with respect to the chassis. Such connections may comprise a speed-reduction device 32, arranged to be clutched to the driving mechanism 33, which drives the conveyor 30. From the device 32 the low speed shaft 34 extends downwardly and is equipped at its lower end with a pinion 35 engaging a rack on the thrust bar 3|, as indicated in Figure 8. Means for reversing the direction of rotation of the shaft 34 may be provided so that the bar 3-I may be moved in either direction.V By operating this bar the car 8 may be pushed away from the car 28. By providing a suitable coupling on the rear end of the bar 3l to engage the coupling of the car 8, the operation of the bar 3| forwardly .will serve to move the car 8 in the corresponding direction. l

In the operation of this device the loading machine I is operated in the usual manner and delivers material on the deck II. During ordinary operation this deck may be extended so that its delivery edge is at its rearmost limit. Accordingly, the material is delivered to the conveyor 6 and is immediately redelivered thereby to the car 8, as in Figure 2, or tohe conveyor 30, as in Figure 7. When it becomes necessary to change cars 8 the conveyor 8, or, if desired, both the conveyors 6 and 30, may be stopped during the change of cars. However, the machine I is kept in operation. The deck II may be adjusted to move its delivered edge forwardly progressively so as to distribute the material along the bin 3. As soon as a new car 8 is placed in position the conveyors 30 and 6 are started up again. These `conveyors may preferably operate at a little higher rate than the machine I, so that the accumulated material in the bin 3 may be loaded into the cars 8 at a faster rate-than new material is received from the machine I. This will avoid an accumulation in the bin 3.

'Ihe car 8 will ordinarily be placed as close to the conveyor car 28 as possible, as is indicated in Figure '7. As the loading proceeds, the thrust bar 3I may be operated to move the car 8 rearwardly so that the material may be distributed so as to properly flll the hauling car. When operating without the car 28, as indicated in Figure 2, a thrust bar such as 3I may be mounted upon the storage car.

It will be seen, therefore, that this invention provides an apparatus which may be used in connection with a loading machine I to load mine cars and which will provide storage space mounted on this car in such a manner as to l in which the output of the vmachine I may accummate during the time that the cars s are being changed. Accordingly, the machine I may be kept in operation practically vcontinuously 3. In a. machine of the character described, a

' traveling frame, a body on said frame providing and need not be limited by the operation of changing cars. Furthermore, the machine I must occasionally be stopped t move it from one place to another in order to attack a fresh pile of material. During that time any excess accumulation of material in the bin 3 may continue to be loaded upon cars 8, In this manner the apparatus provides for bridging-over time intervals, both in the loading of the cars 8 and in the operation of the machine l.

While the apparatus above described is organized and adapted to operate as a unit, it will be understood that individual features or subcombinations thereof may be useful by themselves without reference to other features or the complete combination. It is understood, therefore, that the employment of such individual features and subcombinations is contemplated by this invention when within the scope oi the appended claims.

It is further obvious that various changes in the details of construction may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of this invention, and that the invention is not limited to the specific details `shown and described.

The' invention having thus been described, what is claimed is:

1. A handling-car for loading loose material onto hauling cars, comprising, a traveling frame, a body on said frame providing a storage bin, a

conveyor in said bin to empty the same into a Ameans and operable over said deck to deliver material to said bin.

a storage bin, a conveyor in said bin to empty the same into a hauling car, a deck on said body extending over said bin, a receiving conveyor operable over said deck to deliver material to said bin, and means for adjusting the deliverypoint of said deck with respect to said bin.

4. In a machine of the character described, a traveling frame, a body on said frame providing a storage bin and having a top providing a receiving channel open at its top to receive material from external delivery means, a deck adjustable in said channel, and a conveyor moving over said deck to move material therealong and into said bin.

5. In a machine of the character described, a traveling frame, a body on said frame providing a storage bin and having a top providing a receiving channel open at its top to receive material from external delivery means, a deck adjustable in said channel, a conveyor moving over said deck to move material therealong and into said bin, and means for changing the terminal point of said deck in order to distribute the material along said bin.

6. In an apparatus of the character described, a storage car having a receiving bin, a deck over said bin having a series of jointed sections arranged for movement along said deck in order to withdraw successive sections from over said bin to adjust the delivery point of said deck, and a conveyor movable over said deck.

7. A handling car for loading loose material onto a plurality of hauling cars, comprising, a traveling frame, a body on said frame providing a storage bin, material-receiving means on said 

